Prayer is an art. It’s not a way of putting a coin in a machine and getting something out. It’s not an obligation we have to do. It’s an art that we come to love because it’s in this art of prayer that we discover that we are loved. It may seem at first to you as if your minds are just all over the place and you’re so distracted, and it doesn’t feel like prayer. And that’s good. If you feel that and you’re just beginning to meditate, that’s exactly what you should be feeling, So don’t worry. It is different. And if you look at the Christian mystical tradition – unfortunately we don’t know enough about it – but if we know the Christian mystical tradition, and you can learn to study it, then you will know that this is the teaching of all of the great teachers of prayer.
(Christian Life in the Light of Christian Meditation 1: Discipleship by Laurence Freeman OSB )
